Grounds maintenance vehicles such as lawn mowers, aerators, and spreader/sprayers are used by consumers and professional alike. These vehicles are typically configured as walk-behind or ride-on vehicles having, in the case of a mower, a grass cutting deck (or other implement) attached thereto. Within the deck, cutting blades powered by an engine attached to the vehicle rotate at a speed sufficient to cut vegetation over which the deck passes during operation. The deck may be powered by the engine via an implement drive system. A power take-off (PTO) clutch is provided to allow the implement drive system to selectively engage with, or disengage from, the engine. That is, when the clutch is engaged, the engine may effectively power the implement drive system.
As one of skill can appreciate, engagement of the clutch may significantly increase the load, at least temporarily, on the engine. To avoid excessive clutch wear, the operator may reduce engine speed before clutch engagement and then increase engine speed after engagement to the desired operating speed. While effective, operator variability/effectiveness in making engine speed adjustments for clutch engagement/disengagement can be problematic. For instance, initially setting the engine speed too low may result in excessive droop or even engine stall, while setting the engine speed too high may result in premature wear or even failure of the clutch and related components.
Moreover, mower operators are known to momentarily disengage and engage the clutch without altering engine speed to, for example, traverse obstacles, pathways, and the like. Again, such action may result in premature wear and/or failure of the clutch and/or other drive system components as compared to the desired method of first lowering the engine speed prior to clutch engagement/disengagement. Still further, even when operators attempt to follow recommended clutch engagement/disengagement procedures, manually adjusting engine speed before, during, and/or after clutch engagement/disengagement can be inefficient and cumbersome. Accordingly, such recommendations are sometimes disregarded.
Yet another problem with conventional grounds maintenance vehicles such as lawn mowers is that many operators maintain an excessively high engine speed setting to ensure that a minimum effective cutting blade speed is maintained regardless of engine droop resulting from blade/engine loading. While practical, such an approach may result in providing more engine speed and more power than may be needed, and thus consumption of more fuel than necessary to accomplish the specific cutting task. In addition to increased fuel consumption, operating at higher engine speeds typically results in correspondingly higher overall noise from the engine and implement. For instance, other factors being equal, a dry lawn generally requires less power to cut than a wet lawn. As a result, a lower engine speed setting may be used without detrimentally affecting the quality of cut while also reducing fuel consumption and noise levels.
Still further, once engine load is reduced (e.g., once the clutch is disengaged), high engine speed is typically no longer required. Yet, many operators maintain a high engine speed setting after deck deactivation for convenience. If maximum transport speed is not required, maintaining a higher than necessary engine speed setting may again increase fuel consumption and engine noise without appreciable benefit. Moreover, operating in this fashion may result in the operator engaging the clutch at a higher than desired engine speed upon reaching the next mowing site.